Since in this life the righteous certainly are not saved from evil, it follows that their ways are watched, and their sufferings recorded, with a view to a future and perfect manifestation of the Divine justice. Canon Cook
Some years ago, not long after I initially started blogging, I decided to take a block of time to study this book. Reading through it year by year had become an exercise in managing extreme irritation. Job’s friends were so outrageous in their interaction with their suffering friend that I found it difficult to get through the book at all. Over time, I simply read the portions I had underlined—and my own margin notes.
However, it isn’t a book to be ignored on any level. God’s response at the end is such that every believer should sit up and take careful notice. That was what I had decided to do and, over a number of weeks, I enjoyed posting an honest chronicle of my journey through Job’s experiences—abundance, unimaginable loss, horrific, painful disease, and unrelenting attacks upon his integrity and his faith by so-called friends.
Now, the Fall Semester of Group Study at our church is—you guessed it—this book. I am reading it with new eyes and, indeed, fresh revelation. And I’ve decided to include my readers in tackling what, for many, is an account that can feel overwhelming and at times inexplicable. I am including portions of that initial exploration, and notes added in my OYB over the years—in addition to material from our ongoing study—that I think you, my wonderful readers, will find helpful.
It is an account that asks Big Questions:
- Can a man really know God?
- Can a man really be righteous before God? (“righteous” as in “not influenced by personal interest”)
- Does God operate the universe according to the strict principles of justice?
- Why is there so much suffering in the world?
- Why are comfort and trouble, prosperity and poverty so unevenly distributed?
It is also an investigation into the perplexing universal question of why the righteous suffer . . . and the revelation of the power of faith and the triumph of integrity in the context of unanswered questions.
In the course of our lives we’d like answers to these heavyweight conundrums. And sitting with sick, sorrowing Job over the course of thirty seven chapters is a challenge. Don’t be alarmed. It won’t be necessary to linger over long, verbose, exasperating discourses by you-know-who. It will require us, however, to honestly examine the depth of our trust in God and His sovereignty. And when God shows up in Chapter 38, we’ll get some much-needed clarity delivered in a monster storm.
I invite you to sit with me here, once a week, for awhile. Job wanted answers and, Virginia Woolf notwithstanding, God gave him a proper perspective. Which turned out to be as satisfying as answers.
Let’s find out what it was.
Next Monday, What God Allows, Occurs